I have not really been using blender for very long at all and I tried to read as many tuts and docs before I even started to do anything.
Here goes
1 Question) I want to able to lock verticles
1 Example) I have a rectangular prism and I never want it be anything else but 16 blender units depth yet I want to be able scale this object
2 Question) Grouping? Join? (best to go of the example for this one i have no idea on how to word it)
2 Example) (See question one) in question 1 you see how I want to be about to lock sizes. I want these to be classed as parts for my over all grouped object. Take a cabinet for example it has a top, base, sides, a back and a front when this object grows in size the thickness of these parts do not change so when I change the over all size of this unit the part change in width and lenght only. I want to be able for this effect to work in blender.
3 Heading) Real live units not blender units and the problem i’m having with blender units
3 Example) It seems to me blender doesnt support real world units so I would like a blender a unit to equal a millimetre. The problems with this is the objects I would like to use are that large it seems funny using blender at all as the world plain doesnt scale. Can I have an infinity world plain?. Also is there any way i can dimension items.
4 Question) Snap and cad like tools
4 Example (most need/wanted tools) Snap tools one grouped object to another shift-S (doesnt work well if at all in this case as far as i know) I want to be about to able to snap to one object/part vecticle to another object/part vecticle.
Trim to line (a line is two joined victicles)
Trim corner
Round edge and champher edge
Arc
Measures one ponit to another
Dimension (also asked in Question 3)
This is called constrained scaling. You scale only one axis at a time use MMB or XKEY YKEY ZKEY. Oline docs tell more
The word is parenting, This way you create logical links among different objects.
Or
you can JOIN them and make a single object.
YOu cannot scale a cabinet so that it is bigger but the thickness of the walls do not change. THis makes no sense geometrically. you’re asking for non-uniform scaling.
The eqaution 1 Blender Unit = 1 whateverRealWorld unit always work
So just do 1 BU = 10 meters, this way the object won’t be that large.
[quote=“encon”]
4 Question) Snap and cad like tools
[quote=“encon”]
Not there, sorry (Blender is not a CAD)
Hi Encon, Looking to your questions I think you already have experience with CAD programs. First thing to realize is that Blender is not a CAD program. It is not programmed to do realy precise work and it doesn’t have a lot of snap tools like in a CAD program. The only unit in Blender is the Blenderunit, which can be mm cm m feet inches etc, whatever you want.
But let’s answer your questions:
As far as I know you cannot lock vertices in blender. I understand from your question that you want to scale an object only to one or two of his axis without scaling the other one. In blender you can lock the moving, rotation and scaling operation to one axis by pressing the middle mousebutton while moving/rotating/scaling. You can also enter numeric values in object mode by pressing N.
2)The effect you describe cannot be achieved with scaling the object. if you want to keep the thickness of the object, you have to move the vertices of the top/front/side seperatly. It cannot be done in one operation, as far as I know.
I already explained about the units in Blender. You cannot dimension in blender (not yet, maybe in future versions?). To change the size of the ground grid, go to the View-menu of the 3D window, select View Properties. There you can adjust the settings for the grid. To be able to see all of the grid you may also have to change the clipstart/clipend of the view camera.
Snapping in blender can be done by pressing Shft-S and selecting one of the options. Blender doesn’t (yet) have snaptools like in CAD programms. To snap one vertex from one object to the vertex of another object try the following:
a)select object, press tab to go in edit mode, RMB-click to select vertex to snap to, press Shft-S, select Cursor to selection, press tab to go out of editmode
b) select other object, press tab, select vertex to be snapped, press Shift-S, select Selection to Cursor.
There is no trimming function in blender, as far a as I know
Rounding and chamfer can be done by beveling edges.
Arc is not a standar object in blender but can be made with the KlopUtils script which is included with Blender (You’ll find this script in the ScriptWindow menu under Wizards).
Measuring and Dimensioning are not (yet) implemented in Blender.
Main thing is to understand that Blender is not a CAD programm so you sometimes have to do a workaround to achieve a certain effect.
Well, that’s about it, hope I helped you a little.
I know blender was not designed to be a cad program. Yet people are going on about it like the opensource solution to almost any 3d operation. (I watched a few of the blender conf videos) Is the information contained in these video miss leading?
S68: I know about scaling via x y z not what i’m atfer. The n key solution would work to a point only up to part and objects 1000x1000x1000 I would know just not to change the one value in question I want to keep. (yet this would not keep my champher and rounded edges to scale would it) Join would not work I want uniformed parts, I’m tring to make blender to proform material list for cabinets. I would like to scale the bouding box of the group and for the parts to match this change.
“You cannot scale a cabinet so that it is bigger but the thickness of the walls do not change. This makes no sense geometrically. you’re asking for non-uniform scaling.”
I dont want to sound like an ass but other user friendly cabinet making software do this. (sorry and again I know blender was not designed for cad like operations or to proform anything I want to use it for)
** You cannot make foolproof stuff - fools are too smart. ** Problem is people make better fools (points to self)
I dont expect blender to support everything I want (out of the box). Yet I was aiming for my questions to be anwsered with yes this is how you do it or if you want to do this the best way about going about adding a feature/plugin and the best way about going about it.
SoftWork: The grid max value spacing and grip maxs out at 100x100. I would like it to be about 1x100000 (overide this in a config file?). Also snapping and moving an object next to another say I want two objects right next to another? move only seems to be based off were the mouse is will not give you the option to go into editor mode of another object and say were you would like to snap it to (that i know of)
You should be able to snap the 3Dcursor to an individual vert on one object and then snap the other object to the position of the 3Dcursor. You might have to move the object center on the second object for it to work right, but that should give a start on how to work within the current snap tools in Blender.
For your other question, creative use of constrained grabs and scales should get you the results you’re looking for. Maybe not as quickly as you might like, but it’ll get you there.
I know blender was not designed to be a cad program. Yet people are going on about it like the opensource solution to almost any 3d operation. (I watched a few of the blender conf videos) Is the information contained in these video miss leading?
When saying Blender is the solution to almost any 3D operation, it was meant compared to Blender-alike 3D application like Maya, 3DS, etc.
Again Blender is made for design and animation, not for CAD. The design approach for CAD and Blender are different. In CAD you mostly need to model very precise, and therefor these programms have tools enabling you to do that. In Blender you model something to look good, it is all about the visual effect. When using Blender don’t think like a CAD-designer, but more like an artist.
Q 1)values dont match why?
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Eg 1) I add a 1x1x1 cube I go into edit mode and change the object verticles so oject is larger, say 2x2x2 I leave edit mode and view the transform properties but the values remain the same(1x1x1). In my view these values are incorrent and should match what the bounding box sizes are.
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Q2)cliping as i’m working 1 blender unit = 1mm?
Eg 2) I cant see my work(and I cant find it again when moving camera out of scence) when I zoom out. The scene is just to small, view properties values max out at 1000. 1000 is the max in transform properties any way to make these bigger
It’s late, so I may be misreading what you’ve put for Q1… but for Q2, you should be able to adjust your camera ClipEnd settings so you can see what you’re working on. Select your camera and look in your ObjectButtons (or was it EditButtons) for the proper settings. You might also look to change things in your World settings, but I don’t think it’s necessary.
Eg 1) I add a 1x1x1 cube I go into edit mode and change the object verticles so oject is larger, say 2x2x2 I leave edit mode and view the transform properties but the values remain the same(1x1x1). In my view these values are incorrent and should match what the bounding box sizes are.
The transform properties work the same way in blender as they do in all other 3d programs. In EDIT mode you can change any vertices any way you want by moving, scaling etc. These are now the positions of the verticies of your base mesh and have a transform scale of one (1.0). If you then say scale your base mesh in OBJECT mode by 2 for example your transform property would then be 2.0. The transforms are relative to your base mesh.
Fligh %: if your objects are out of the cliped(max) area you have not way of seeing them. Unless you select all and scale them down (and I dont want to do this)
Find lost object in the outliner and select with LMB. Shft-S, option 2, 3 or 5.
EG: Select “ObjectLost” in outliner. Shft-S >> Cursor->Selected >> C; will take you to the cursor which is snapped to the Object Center of “ObjectLost”.
I have tested it and put an object so far into infinity my hand got tired.
